


Family ties

by octopus_fool



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 13:49:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12683178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octopus_fool/pseuds/octopus_fool
Summary: Desperate to get his son to sleep in his own room, Bombur comes up with an idea.





	Family ties

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 10 of [Khazâd November](https://a-grump-of-dwarves.tumblr.com/post/166304116735/khaz%C3%A2d-november-2017), the additional prompt was "tradition".  
> 

It all began when they finally added a room for Mavi and Bomi to their house, leaving only young Buvir to sleep in their room in his little cot. Mavi was not a problem, she never was, little ball of sunshine that she was. She was excited about the new room and even more thrilled when Bofur told her that the room was only too fitting for a big dwarfling like her. 

Bomi was a little fussier, of course. He looked at the new room with big eyes while Mavi explored it thoroughly. But he only dared to explore it while clinging to Bombur’s hand. He was even quieter than usual when Bombur and Vida brought him and Mavi to bed that evening. 

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise when Bombur woke up in the middle of the night to Bomi climbing over him to lie in the space between him and Vida.

“Bomi, what’s wrong?” Bombur whispered.

“There are monsters in my room, Adad. I want to sleep here with you.”

“Are you sure? Is Mavi afraid of them too?”

Bomi shook his head. “She can’t see them. She’s asleep.”

“Maybe they’ll leave you alone as soon as you fall asleep as well?”

“No. I’m sleeping here.” 

Bombur was too tired to argue since Buvir was teething and keeping them up even more than usual at the moment. 

“Alright, but only for tonight.” There wouldn’t be much additional space left in their bed soon anyway, not with Vida’s belly already starting to grow again. 

 

Of course it wasn’t just for that night. They brought Bomi to bed, he ended up crawling into theirs every night. When they could summon the energy, they brought him back into his own bed, if not, they let him stay. He always found his way back into their bed anyway. 

“What do those monsters look like anyway?” Bofur asked over breakfast one day. “Are they those little slimy ones that try to crawl into your nose or are they big ones that are covered in thorns? Creatures with three heads? Dragons? Or do they have twenty eyes and sharp teeth?”

Bomi stared at Bofur with wide eyes.

“Bofur, you’re not helping,” Vida said.

“All of them,” Bomi replied.

Bombur threw his brother an evil glare. “But surely there can’t be dragons in your room. It is too small for even a single dragon to fit into.”

“They are small dragons,” Bomi said sullenly. “Small and dangerous.”

 

They decided that Bifur should have a look at the room, since he was something of an expert on monsters. 

/Nothing here to be afraid of,/ Bifur signed after looking under both beds and into the closets. /Not even a tiny mouse./

“They only come out at night!”

 

Bofur offered to spend the night in the dwarflings’ room, sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

It was no use. Bomi climbed into his parents’ bed again that night, quite distressed.

“They are _growling_ at me now,” Bomi whispered as he crawled under the safety of his mother’s arm. 

Bombur decided this was worth investigating for once. He snuck into the hallway and peaked into the dwarflings’ room. He nearly laughed when he realised what was going on. 

“Don’t worry, Bomi,” he whispered when he returned to their room. “That is only Bofur snoring. You should be used to that sound from when I sleep. Shall we go take a look together?”

Bomi frantically shook his head and scooted closer to his mother. 

Bombur sighed and climbed back into bed. 

 

The next morning, Bombur went to the market and bought some long pieces of leather and colourful strings. 

When he brought Bomi to bed that evening, Bombur unfastened a bracelet from his wrist and tied it around Bomi’s wrist. 

“Do you know what this is?”

Bomi shook his head. 

“It’s a magical bracelet that keeps away monsters. All we need to do is tie it around my wrist for a day every once in a while and my power of keeping away monsters will soak into the bracelet and keep you safe. And we need to do this.”

Bombur waved his hands over the bracelet, whispered a few words in Khuzdûl, ran his fingers over the bracelet and bopped it with his nose. 

“If you feel there are monsters approaching, just do what I just did and they will be afraid of you and run away. Try it.”

Bomi did as told. Bombur had to repeat the Khuzdûl words a few times before Bomi remembered them. Finally, Bombur tucked both dwarflings in and wished them a good night.

 

Bombur did not really expect it to work, but it was the last thing he could think of. That night, the mattress dipped slightly and Bombur could feel someone crawling into bed with them. But this time, it was Mavi.

“What’s wrong, Mavi?”

“There are monsters in my room, Adad.”

Bombur sighed. “Alright, Mavi. I’ll make you a bracelet too, tomorrow. Now go back to bed and sleep.”

“Alright.” Mavi grinned at him and skipped back to bed. 

 

The following evening, Bombur tied bracelets around the wrists of two dwarflings, whispered in Khuzdûl, ran his fingers over the bracelets and bopped them with his nose. 

“What about Buvir?” Bomi asked with big eyes as Bombur tucked him in. “Won’t the monsters come for him?”

“Buvir is too small and smelly to be interesting for the monsters,” Bofur said from the door. “No monster in its right mind would want to eat him until he’s a lot bigger.”

Bombur shot him a reprimanding look, but the answer seemed to satisfy Bomi since he nodded earnestly while Mavi giggled.

“I’ll make him a bracelet too, just to make sure,” Bombur added.

They slept without any interruption that night, even Buvir kept his peace.

 

In the next couple of years, Bombur tied an ever increasing number of bracelets around the wrists of his children, waved his hands over them, whispered the correct words, ran his fingers across them and bopped bracelets with his nose until he was sure his nose was about to develop calluses. 

He exchanged conspiratorial winks with the dwarflings who had advanced far enough in their Khuzdûl lessons to understand the words. Luckily, the older ones all kept the secret. After all, there was not much power in the words “there are no monsters. Now sleep, and more importantly, let me sleep.” Still, none of his children wanted to give up the old tradition.

 

On the morning Bombur left for Erebor, Bomi came up to Bombur with serious eyes. He was hardly a dwarfling anymore and his beard was large enough to make many fully grown dwarves envious. Never one for many words, Bomi took his father’s hand and tied his old bracelet around Bombur’s wrist, repeating the ritual and saying the nonsense words Bombur had come up with on the spot so many years ago.

“It will keep the dragon away,” Bomi said quietly.

Bombur pulled his son into an enormous hug, tears prickling at the corners of his eyes.

By the time Bombur left and waved goodbye to his family, his entire wrist was covered in bracelets.


End file.
